Waiting for approval of skilled employee program
Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader
Slave Lake has been approved for a rural entrepreneur immigration program. There’s some interest, but so far no one confirmed.
Many people are familiar with the temporary foreign worker program, which still exists. However, Alberta Labour has added two more: the Rural Entrepreneur Stream and the Rural Renewal Stream.
For these new ones, communities apply as a whole, before businesses can apply for workers. Or in the case of the entrepreneur stream, applications by people from out of the country wanting to start businesses.
Earlier this year, Garry Roth applied for both streams when he was acting CAO for the Town of Slave Lake. He’s now retired, but working for the town as a consultant.
“We’re going to try to encourage all three programs, if we can,” he says.
Slave Lake is approved for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream.
“That one was very quick,” says Roth.
As of early October, Roth was in conversation with three entrepreneur clients, who had been partially vetted by Alberta Labour.
The conversations with potential entrepreneurs are very focused, says Roth. They have lots of questions about the community, the community needs and any business gaps they could possibly fill.
They are likely looking at other communities as well, he adds.
These people applied to immigrate to Canada and the Alberta entrepreneur program with the “intent of eventually starting a business here,” says Roth.
There are three main requirements from Alberta Labour for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream. These are the experience and ability to start a business, a solid business plan, and the start up cost.
However, the Town of Slave Lake hasn’t heard yet about the Rural Renewal Stream, which is for skilled worker immigration to rural areas.
The application included the need for the town or region to have lots of support services for newcomers, says Roth. The burden for support for the renewal one is on the community. For the entrepreneur stream, the onus is on the individual.
Roth has also heard from both local businesses and foreign workers interested in the Rural Renewal Stream. The Town of Slave Lake is just waiting on approval from Alberta Labour.
An Alberta government news release lists all of the communities for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream. In central northern Alberta these are: Slave Lake, Municipal District of Peace, Municipal District of Smoky River, Falher, High Prairie, McLennan, Whitecourt, Donnelly, and Girouxville.
The Rural Renewal Stream central northern Alberta communities are: Municipal District of Smoky River, McLennan, Falher, Donnelly, Girouxville, and Whitecourt.
Quick facts
- The rural immigration streams are part of the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, a federal-provincial program that nominates individuals for permanent residence.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sets the limits for nominations the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program can issue each year. IRCC provided 6,500 nomination certificates to Alberta for 2022.
- Nearly 5,000 nomination certificates have been issued so far in 2022.
